A foundling for president

As expected by many, Senator Grace Poe has finally declared her intentions to seek the presidency in the May, 2016 presidential elections. After so much hemming and hawing about her 2016 plans, Sen. Poe’s declaration of her presidential bid last Wednesday thus ended weeks of speculations on her intentions.

In simple ceremonies at the UP Diliman Bahay ng Alumni, Poe, 47, proclaimed she will continue the present administration’s advocacy of “daang matuwid,” which is substantially a fight to combat and eradicate corruption. Her announcement was made in the same hall that her late father, action movie star Fernando Poe Jr., declared the same objectives in vying for the same office: to serve the Filipino people, to defend the Republic and uphold the country’s 1987 Constitution.

As she described herself as a foundling, she is the adopted daughter of multi-awarded actress Susan Roces and the late action movie “king.” The deceased actor contested the presidency in 2004 against then president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who won amid allegations of widespread cheating.

Holding a very low-key job as chairperson of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) before bursting into national politics from out of the blue, Poe surprised many by topping the 2013 senatorial elections. Her first foray into politics was merely being behind the scene during her late father’s presidential campaign.

President Benigno “Noy” Aquino III had publicly admitted he continued to woo Sen. Poe to run instead as vice presidential running mate of his “anointed” one, former Department of the Interior and Local  Government (DILG) Secretary Mar Roxas II.

In his press conference at Malacañang a day after Poe’s declaration of her presidential bid, President Aquino himself even cracked a joke about his supposed fear of being made to react to Poe’s “jilting” him as the latest failure on his love life. The 55-year old bachelor President always makes self-deprecating jokes on persistent rumors about his love life and women being linked to him.

Apparently, President Aquino has quickly recovered from the formal rejection of his overtures for the senator to form a tandem with Roxas as administration bets in 2016. On a serious note, the Chief Executive could only muster a wish for Poe to keep the forthcoming presidential campaign issue-based and not just launch anti-administration attacks.

But how could Poe differentiate her future administration if she would cling also to the “matuwid na daan” of P-Noy’s anointed presidential candidate? As Poe correctly echoed in her presidential proclamation: “No one has the monopoly of good governance.”

The essence of Poe’s speech touched on the many daily survival concerns of ordinary Filipinos: grinding poverty, rising criminality, monstrous and traumatic traffic jams, high cost of electricity, income tax rate burdens and the plight of overseas workers. Among her 20-point priority agenda of governance, she also vowed to defend the contested West Philippine Sea; to speed up Internet connections; to remove colorum public utility vehicles from roads; etc. etc.etc. It’s more like a wish list.
Now, I can now also break my silence that we had the opportunity of meeting with Sen. Poe two days before she declared her presidential bid. Accompanied by her chief of staff Nelson Victorino, Sen. Poe told us over lunch that she would have supported a like-minded presidential candidate other than herself running in 2016.

In general terms and in broad strokes, Poe hinted she considered and gave weight to the more compelling reasons that she herself should run for the presidency. Respecting her request to keep most of our discussions “off-the-record,” Poe struck me as no longer a reluctant presidential candidate but one who had already made up her mind.

Other than politics, our discussions strayed into our common roles as a mother. She has two daughters and a son. She described her children as oblivious to politics like their father, Neil Llamanzares. She admires her family though for always making time to help her in some political activities she could not attend to personally.

I could sense she was trying to gauge my thinking of her possible presidential run. If we had two women presidents in the past (P-Noy’s late mother ex-President Corazon Aquino and Mrs. Arroyo), I told her, why can’t we have a third one?

Topping most of the political popularity surveys, Poe made official last week that the 2016 presidential contest is a three-way fight – for now. Her two rivals are Vice President Jejomar Binay and Roxas.

As the anointed of P-Noy, Roxas is the presidential standard bearer for the ruling administration Liberal Party (LP). Although he is the first one to declare his presidential bid as early as when he assumed office as Vice President, Binay has yet to formally announce his candidacy under the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) party.

Both Binay and Roxas as of this writing have to finalize who would be their respective vice presidential running mates. A day after her declaration, Poe proclaimed fellow Senator, Francis “Chiz” Escudero as her vice presidential running mate.

For 2016, both are running as independent candidates – with no support from and clout of a strong and formidable political party that has complete grassroots machinery and lieutenants all over the country. Without saying so, she and her supporters are banking on her immense popularity and famous family name to help win the battle.

The senator’s personal and life stories may contribute significantly in her quest of the presidency. Whether we like it or not, sadly many Filipinos vote because of personalities involved rather than the issues they espouse.

In her speech, the legacies and remembrances of Sen. Poe’s father figured prominently. She reminded Filipino voters that Poe Jr. championed and promoted the causes of the marginalized.

“My life is an open book. Who would’ve thought that a foundling would ever lay foot in the Senate?” Poe rhetorically asked.

Who knows, with a lot of luck, perseverance, and twist of fate, Sen. Poe may be the first foundling to become the country’s president. But she must hurdle first the citizenship case before the Senate Electoral Tribunal.